He's a perennial favorite with kids young and old. That quirky cat in Alice in Wonderland makes everyone smile. Penelope LOVES to read and she adores the Cheshire cat. Just this spring, our local middle school performed Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire cat stole the show. Dressed in an amazing costume with some pretty awesome hair, he captured the hearts of all in the audience. Penelope went to the play and her Mom thought that a cake combining the cat and books would be perfect for her daughter's 5th birthday. I decided we'd focus on the cat and make a Cheshire cat cake.

Design the Cake

Every cake starts off with a design process and this Cheshire cat cake was no exception. How best to combine the Cheshire cat and the books while still keeping the price reasonable and the number of servings in line with what was needed for the party? I started to sketch some things out and consider different options. The cat face was easy: I found a great example of Cheshire cat clip art online and printed it out. But, what to do with it? I had decided that it would make sense to do just the face, and found a couple of inspiration cake pictures to send to Penelope's Mom. We needed to serve about 30 people and her Mom liked the idea of tiering to help feature the cat! We agreed that I'd combine the elements of books and the cat and she would trust my judgement from there. I've included the inspiration Cheshire cat cakes and fondant books below.